Who
by Strawberry9212
Summary: Sakura. Men. And secrets. What more can you ask for? SakuMulti. Multiple Pairings. AU.
1. Chapter 1 Single Mother

**A/N: I'm back with a new story! Are you excited for it? I am! Without further ado, here it is!**

* * *

Sakura sighed as she looked over the bills at the kitchen table with only the overhead fixture on in the dark apartment. Why did it seem like the bills were just getting more and more expensive? There was the water, gas, electric, trash, internet, phone, rent, Rei's daycare tuition.

Not to mention her students loans which she's been paying since she was _still in_ college and hasn't even made a dent in them yet. It didn't help that she was an international student, so there were even more fees that she had to pay. In hindsight, it was quite amazing that her parents indulged in her wish to study in the States despite how _expensive_ it was.

She let out another deep sigh.

It just seemed never-ending.

Sure, it was kinda Sakura's fault since she was the one who wanted to move out of her parent's house once she found a stable job (with medical benefits such as insurance) as an accountant. But she didn't expect it to be this hard. She was practically living paycheck to paycheck, which was not what she wanted to do. She wanted to at least experience the simple pleasures of life, like go out for a movie once in a while with her girlfriends or with Rei.

Speaking of Rei, Sakura decided to take a break from the bills and went to go check up on her little angel. Walking through the dark apartment without turning on any lights (she didn't want to _increase_ the electricity bill) she made it to her son's room without incident. She carefully opened the door, making sure to not make that much noise and peaked into the nightlight-lit room.

She slipped in quietly and walked over to the small kid's bed and hovered over her baby boy. Okay, he wasn't much of a baby anymore, but he'll always be her baby. Sakura reached down and brushed his dark bangs out of his eyes. He shifted slightly before falling back into a deep slumber. With the peaceful look on his face, Sakura allowed herself to forget all the monetary troubles and smiled uninhibitedly.

Though Rei's arrival was unplanned and surprising, she didn't regret it at all. But that probably had to do with the timing. If she had found out any sooner, then she'd probably freak out and break down. She had found out right after graduating from university and after getting her degree. Though it was still shocking, it still wasn't as bad as finding out during the stressful time of finals and making sure that she had everything checked out to graduate.

When Sakura told her parents about it, they were both happy and disappointed in her. Happy that they were getting a grandchild, though a bit sooner than they had expected, and disappointed that she didn't bring a man home before it all.

Yeah, that's right, Sakura was a single mom whose baby was a result of a drunken one night stand. She can only shrug at it and move on with her life.

Sakura had gotten her Bachelor's overseas so after the discovery that she was pregnant, she immediately moved back home for her family's support. She was planning to stay there after college to find a job, but it just wouldn't do for her to have a baby alone with no family to help her.

She leaned down and kissed Rei's forehead before fixing the covers that he had kicked off in his sleep. Then she resigned herself to go back and deal with the bills, her fingers playing with her necklace.

Someone had to pay them.

* * *

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he played with his three-year old son after a tiring day at work.

Why was the great Uchiha Sasuke rolling his eyes you may ask? Well, it was because currently, his wife was screeching at the top of her lungs because she found out about the little affair he was having with one of his female employees in his office today.

How did she find out even though she, too, was busy at work in her lab halfway across town from his company?

Sasuke already knew the answer: his secretary. He rolled his eyes again. He didn't know why his secretary would tell his wife these things when she, too, was a part of his affair. Was it to keep the suspicion away from herself? Women. He'll never understand them.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you listening to me?!"

Sasuke nodded absentmindedly as he covered his innocent son's ears, there was no need for him to be subjected to his mother's yelling when it wasn't even directed at him.

"I swear to you, Sasuke-kun, the next time I hear of an affair, I _will _use the little whore as a lab rat!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke ignored her threat, even though it was a very real threat, since he knew of the damage that the poisons his wife worked with in her lab inflicted on the little mice in the cages. He _should_ be weary of them, but he really just didn't care anymore.

What he did care about was his son and getting a divorce. But he already knew that was never going to happen since his parents would never let him. Even though it was a loveless marriage on his part, they still shared a son together and that's what mattered to his parents. They were all about public image, and they couldn't let the public see his son motherless when the woman was still very much a live and breathing fire.

"Che."

He'll see to it that his secretary gets less alone time with him in his office from now on.

* * *

Sakura was almost running around like a chicken that had its head chopped off as she and five others rushed to finish a report that was assigned just this afternoon; just "almost" because she really couldn't run around in the heels she was in.

It was really unfair because they really had just given them the assignment and they were told that they had until next week to finish it, and so, none of them started on it, opting to finish the other reports that they were working on. And then just an hour ago, their supervisor came back in and told them that they had to be done with it by the end of the day, and that was in three hours.

And so, Sakura and the team she was in, had two hours left to put together a thirty page report for the meeting next morning. When they were almost done with it, Sakura swore that the room was swirling before she forced herself to focus on the numbers in front of her. They finally finished the report. It was an hour late, but that was because it was their supervisor's fault for letting them know so last minute. They weren't reprimanded, instead they were thanked with tears running down his face.

They all were shocked. Was their supervisor's superior really that scary?

Sure, they all heard stories, but they all thought they were false. But now they saw that they weren't.

Sakura leaned back in her chair as she relaxed from the high strung tension she was in just a few minutes earlier.

"Good job, Haruno."

Sakura spun around to see her supervisor leaning over her cubicle wall. She gave him a small smile. "No problem, kachou. Just doing my job."

She waited for the inevitable flirting.

"So I was thinking, if you're not busy later, wanna go grab some dinner together?"

And there it was.

Sakura could only sigh before looking at the time on her computer. "Kachou, sorry, but you know I can't." She started gathering her stuff to leave and pick up Rei from the company daycare center. She was already an hour late.

"Why? Is it time? Are you busy tonight? Then–then what about another time? When are you free?"

"You know that's not it." Sakura got up and started walking to the elevator as her supervisor followed behind her.

"Then is it because of last time? I told you, I'm really sorry for that. I didn't mean to," he continued his sincere apology but it fell to deaf ears.

"Last time" was referring to the time her supervisor unprofessionally spilled hot coffee on her on purpose to get her alone with him when he helped her clean up the mess. But apparently he got "so lost in her beautiful green eyes" that he forgot all about what he was supposed to do and she ended up with a second degree burn since it was freshly brewed coffee. She could've totally gotten worker's comp for it, but decided against it as her supervisor apologized profusely to point of it being embarrassing.

Sakura pressed the button for the elevator and waited, silently hoping for it to come faster so that she could evade her persistent suitor. She almost sighed with relief when the elevator doors opened and she stepped in.

Turning back to her supervisor, she pursed her lips before giving him one last apologetic smile. "I just can't, kachou. I have to go pick up my son, I'm already late enough as it is."

"Is that what it's about? Are you worried that I won't be a good father? I can be really responsibl-" and the the elevator doors closed on his little speech. Hopefully he didn't see her frantically pushing the "close doors" button to get away from him faster.

Seriously, her supervisor was just too much sometimes.

* * *

Karin was picking up her son at her husband's company's daycare when one of the kids caught her attention. She narrowed her eyes at the uncanny resemblance. Resemblance to her husband.

Was that kid always here? Sure, it's been a while since she was the one to pick up her son, but not that long of a while. And she was always good at remembering faces. Once she's seem them once, she'll always remember their face. To her excellent knowledge, she's never seen this little boy before.

She turned to her own son, "Ryuusuke, honey, who is that little boy?" Karin pointed at the little boy with pale skin and dark features playing by himself, drawing an arguably really nice picture for a little boy of his age, as he waited by himself for his parents to come pick him up, most of the other kids having already been picked up.

"Rei-kun, Mama?"

She looked between her son and "Rei-kun" before looking at her expensive Coach watch. She didn't have much time to dwell upon it, they had dinner reservations in forty-five minutes. But she'll get to the bottom of this.

"Come on, Ryuu, we need to get going." She tugged him along to the front desk of the daycare to sign him out.

"Have a nice night, Uchiha-san, and see you tomorrow Ryuusuke-chan."

As Karin and her son walked to the elevator to go down to the garage, a flash of pink went passed them in the direction they just came from and then they heard, "Reeeeei! I'm so sorry, baby. Mommy's so sorry she's late."

Karin whipped around at the name, intent on seeing who Rei's mother was, but she saw nothing. The small lobby was empty. She would've backtracked just to see the woman but the elevator was already here and they were in a hurry, so this had to wait another day.

She grit her teeth as she clenched her jaw. If this was another one of her husband's affairs, one that left behind an _illegitimate child_, then someone was surely going to drop dead from acute poisoning from an unknown drug with no antidote.

Though she knew that Sasuke didn't love her, he was still very much her husband and she was going to keep it that way. No two-cent whore was going to take her man from her. No one.

Karin was going to make sure of that.

* * *

"Have a good night, Haruno-san, and see you tomorrow, Rei-chan."

"You, too, Moegi-sensei. Come on, Rei, say 'bye bye' to sensei."

Rei cutely waved up at pig-tailed caretaker. "Bye bye, Moegi-sensei."

Moegi couldn't help but squeal. "Oh my god, Rei-chan, you are too cute," she said as she crouched down and lightly pinched his cheek before looking up at his mom. "Haruno-san, you are a single mother, right?"

Sakura kindly smiled though she didn't want to talk about it. "Yes, unfortunately."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to Rei-chan's father?"

She did mind. But she had no choice but to answer to satiate the woman's curiosity. And so, to thwart future inquiries, she answered vaguely and let her use her own imagination to fill in the blanks. "He's not with us anymore."

And the woman didn't disappoint as she gasped and quickly got up and bowed. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know. Forgive me."

Sakura inwardly sighed. "No, that's alright. You didn't know." She took a hold of Rei's hand. "Come on, hun, we have to go now, it's getting late. I'll see you tomorrow, Moegi-sensei."

Rei waved at her one last time before Sakura led him to elevator. She could've sworn that she saw Moegi-sensei slightly tearing up. Sakura sweatdropped. Now she felt kinda bad about lying to her.

But oh well, the damage was already done. And it's not like she outright told her that Rei's father was dead or anything. Sakura shrugged to herself, Oh well, then, oh well.

* * *

**A/N: So how was it? Did it spark your interest? Do you wanna read more? I've been debating for a while when I wanted to post this story up, since I still have three other live stories. I was contemplating waiting till I finished one of them to post this story up, but I got too excited and decided to just go ahead with it. Also because I have another story to post up, so that'll bring me to a total of five live stories. The fifth one will be up in the near future or so. **

**How did you guys like it? Please let me know!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**Published – 3/20/2014**


	2. Chapter 2 Artistic Talent

**A/N: Yo!**

* * *

A brunette male with a bandanna tied backwards around his head sighed with dejection as he swirled his drink.

"What's wrong? Rejected again?" asked his coworker and good friend who sat next to him at the bar.

Genma sighed again. "If you already know then why ask?"

"To rub it in," he replied without remorse as he turned a page in his bright orange book that he shamelessly read in public.

"You're a jackass, you know that, Kakashi?"

"The ladies dig it though. And unlike you, I have no trouble asking a woman out on a date."

Genma scoffed. "You think I need _your_ advice on how to get into a lady's pants? You do remember who you're talking to, right?"

"Yes, I'm talking to the man who gave his love interest a second-degree burn by way of coffee." He turned another page, ignoring the crude looks he was getting from the bartender.

_Thump_

"I told you, I didn't mean to," Genma whined, his voice muffled by the bar top. "And I've already apologized to her so much that even the other employees are feeling sorry for me."

He raised his head from the counter. "Can you imagine that? Can you imagine how I feel? Having the people who work for you feel sorry for you? My image as the cool, handsome supervisor has been ruined!"

"But it is your fault." He turned another page before taking a sip of his sake. "I still don't know why you've surrendered your playboy ways for just one woman."

"That's because you don't know her!" Genma took a big swig of his beer before beginning his tirade. "She's like a breath of fresh air in an office filled with nerdy men who only know numbers! She's a lovely blossom who not only has beauty but also the brains to back it up! With her beautiful pink hair that looks so soft," he reached forward as if to touch it. "Her clear green eyes and her smooth skin."

Kakashi nodded absentmindedly just to humor the drunken man.

"And her body, oh her body." Kakashi slightly perked up that. "Her legs, her legs in those skirts that she sometimes wears. Oh god, how many times that I've come to those long, sinful limbs." Genma took another long drink. "Wrapped around my waist as I–." _Thump_

Kakashi pulled his attention from his lovely romantic novel to see that his friend had drunken himself into a stupor and had passed out on the bar. He just shrugged and continued his book, no need to fret over it.

But as he read, waiting for his friend and coworker to come to, he couldn't stop thinking about the words that he had spouted just before losing consciousness. Pink hair? Not something Kakashi usually went for. Green eyes? Absolutely exotic. Long, _sinful_ legs, as Genma had described them? Definitely within his striking range.

Kakashi turned another page.

Maybe it was time to pay a visit to the accounting department.

* * *

Karin picked at her food with her fork, or more like stabbed at it, as she pondered the possibilities as she watched Sasuke play with their son.

Though unfaithful, Sasuke was a good father to their son, no doubt about that. So if he had an illegitimate child, how would he treat that child?

Karin's anger rose as she thought about it. It just made her blood boil.

Sure, Sasuke's had many affairs since their marriage started, actually even _before_ their marriage–he was never one to stay in one place when it came to women–but never was there an issue of leaving a child behind. Sasuke was never that careless. He always used protection, even if he was drunk, high, or cross-faded.

The only time he didn't use protection was when he was too distraught over his brother leaving home. And that was how Ryuusuke came to be.

"You're going to break the plate if you cut the chicken any harder. What are we going to say to the restaurant about that, huh?"

Karin was startled out of her reverie at the slightly unexpected question. She looked back down at her plate and saw that there was indeed a more than shallow scratch where she was digging the knife into the plate after cutting through the chicken alfredo.

Sasuke looked up at his wife from making sure that his son wasn't making too much of a mess eating his spaghetti. He started on his own beef ravioli with tomato sauce as he asked. "Do you have something to say to me?"

Karin cleared her throat before eating a piece of chicken while shifting the penne around the plate to cover the slight crack. "I think the question is, do _you_ have anything to say to _me_?"

"And what would that be?"

Karin grit her teeth. There was no reason to air out their dirty laundry here. "We'll talk about this later."

Sasuke gave her a cold look from under his eyelashes before returning to his food. Getting into an argument here would not be beneficial, especially since he quite liked the sauce they had.

Yes, they really knew how to handle their tomatoes here.

* * *

Sakura looked over at Rei as he quietly continued the drawing he had started at daycare while clearing the table of their simple dinner. He was kneeling at the coffee table with the TV on a cartoon at a low volume.

She thought about it. Where did he get his artistic talent from?

Sakura's been told many times that she was creative, but with words, not art. So where did he get it from? His father?

She paused what she was doing. Her brain had stopped working for a bit, so she had to wait a few moments for it to start running again.

She never really dwelled on what kind of person he was so it never really crossed her mind that he could've been an artistic person. Sakura didn't remember much from that evening or that night, so she can't quite rely on her memories to analyze what time of person he was.

Sakura continued clearing the table, putting the leftovers in tuperware and then into the fridge and then putting the dirty dishes into the sink before starting on them. As she washed them, she let her thoughts linger on Rei's father for a little longer before pushing it out of her mind.

She honestly didn't quite care who his father was as long as he grows up alright, and so far that was the case. Maybe she spoke too soon? What if Rei turns into a rebellious teenager who joins a gang and becomes a yankee and roams the streets at night, terrorizing the innocent and guilty alike?

Sakura laughed to herself. That would mean that Rei took after her rather than his father. She giggled. She was quite the troublesome teenager. But she had pulled her act together by the end of high school.

She reminisced about the times where she thought she was all that with her long uniform skirt that set her apart from the other girls who wanted to decrease the length of their skirts as much as possible. And when she beat people up with her bare hands until her opponent was all but a pulp of garbage on the ground.

"Mommy, why are you laughing?"

Sakura was pulled out of her reverie by her son's innocent question. She pursed her lips before thinking that her son didn't quite need to know about her not-so-normal past yet and so she looked over at him, seeing that he hadn't even looked up from his drawing, and said, "Mommy's laughing because she's thinking about how cute you were when you were a baby."

Sakura watched with delight as her little man froze, his cheeks and the tips of his ears tinting pink.

"Moooommmy!" he whined.

"What, hun? You don't like Mommy calling you cute?" Sakura continued her teasing as she put the last of the dishes onto the drying rack before wiping her hands on the kitchen towel as she made her way over to the living room. "But you're so adorable~!" Sakura squealed and promptly started smothering his tiny face with kisses.

"Moooommmy! Nooooooo~!" Rei tried to push his mommy's face away and couldn't help but start laughing. "Stop iiiiit!"

"Really? Really? Do you want Mommy to stop?" Sakura started another assault on his little tummy, tickling it with her long fingers.

Rei was no match for his mommy so he could only fall onto his back, laughing hard, slightly ruining the drawing he was working so hard on, the pencil he had in his hand, unintentionally drawing a squiggly line through the middle of it.

"Mo-mommy!" Rei's childish giggles filled the apartment alongside Sakura's feminine laughter.

"Ha! Rei, next time don't start a fight with Mommy that you can't win!" Sakura finished off with a raspberry against Rei's exposed stomach. She laughed as she looked down at his exhausted little body. "You are just too cute!"

Rei didn't have anymore energy to refute the claim so he let it slide. Just this once. Mark his words!

_Ping Pong_

Saukra looked up at the door. Who could that be?

"Mommy! Look what you made me do!" Rei exclaimed, distressed as he discovered the ugly line on his precious drawing.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "Did Mommy really make you do that? Did she, really?"

"Yeeeees!"

Sakura shook her head, chuckling, as she got up to go get the door, checking through the peephole before excitedly opening the door, throwing her arms around her guest.

"Temari-senpai!" She squeezed her tightly before pulling back. "Why didn't you tell me you were in town!"

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?" The slightly rough-around-the-edges blonde smirked.

Sakura squealed before pulling her old friend into another hug before she was practically forcibly removed from Temari's person by Temari herself. "Wanna let me in now?"

"Oh right, come in, come in. Rei! Aunty Temari is here!" Sakura shouted into the apartment before ushering the blonde in, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, squirt. Miss me?" Temari asked as she ruffled the little boy's hair as he got up and hugged her around her legs.

"Hi, Aunty Temari," Rei smiled widely up at her. He finally go, fixing his hair as he knelt back down at the coffee table.

Temari took a seat on the couch before looking over Rei's should curiously, "Whatcha workin' on there?" Her yankee talk coming out slightly.

"Senpai," Sakura slightly scolded as she set down a glass of chilled sweet tea for her guest.

"What?" Temari responded with indignation before laughing. "Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Gotta speak normally around the little one'," she mocked the many times Sakura had reminded her.

Sakura rolled her eyes before looking at Rei's drawing, instantly impressed. "Ooo, what _are_ you working on there, Rei?"

Rei carefully erased the misplaced stroke from his little tumble with Mommy before showing it to her and Aunty Temari proudly. "It's Mommy and me! At the park!"

And it was indeed 'Mommy and me. At the park.' Sakura could see the details on the bark on the large oak tree that distinguished the park near their apartment from all the other parks in the city. It was a large 150-year-old tree from the Edo period that provided really nice shade in the summer time and beautiful scenery of multi-colored red, orange, and yellow leaves in the fall. They've yet to see it in the winter as they haven't lived a winter in their apartment yet.

Sakura's fingers played with her necklace as her eyes moved from the tree to the two figures sitting at its base, the tinier one sitting in the lap of the bigger one. She could just see the wind blowing through the woman's– her– hair, and through the air, carrying with it, falling leaves. She could see the excitement in the little boy's–Rei's–eyes as he pointed up at a squirrel feasting on an acorn, slightly hidden in the branches of the large oak tree that stretched out above their heads. She could also see the love in her eyes as she spoke to Rei.

"Wow," Sakura all but whispered, still really amazed at her 4-year-old son's drawing.

"Who knew, Sakura-kouhai, you have a budding Picasso on your hands," Temari commented after giving a short whistle of appreciation.

Sakura gave her senpai a flat look before turning her attention back to Rei's drawing. But she couldn't deny that her son had talent. And a lot of it.

Maybe he did get it from his father, because there was no way that Rei could've gotten this from her.

* * *

**A/N: Sakura has a yankee past! Kakakakakaka! I thought that it'd be really fun to throw that in. And for those who might not know what a yankee is, in this context, it's a Japanese gangster. **

**I hope you liked it!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 4/5/2014**


	3. Chapter 3 Sudden Engagement

**A/N: Heeeello!**

* * *

"That's a really nice necklace, you have there, Haruno-san."

"Eh?" Sakura so eloquently put it as she looked up at her supervisor who was once again leaning over her cubicle wall.

"Your necklace, it's really nice."

She looked down and saw that she was fiddling with it. She hadn't even realized that she was sliding it back and forth along the chain, a habit that she had adopted ever since she got it. "Oh yeah," she gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

"If you don't mind me asking, who gave it to you?"

Sakura inwardly twitched. Why did people keep saying that? Of course she minded! For the most part. And if they already knew that their question might a offend or cross the line a bit too much, then why ask it in the first place?! It's not like she could just go ahead and say that yes! She minded! I mean, she might've done that in the past when she just didn't give a crap about what other people thought of her (even more of a reason not to answer their little questions), but now she actually did!

"It was a birthday present. From a...close friend," she paused a beat. "But we don't really talk anymore."

A harmless white lie.

Besides, there was no way her supervisor was going to find out the truth anyways, and even if he did then he was going to get a beating from the old her. Sakura will personally and purposefully wake up Inner from her self-induced _coma _just to give him a beating. Supervisor or not, he'll get a beat down if he pokes his nose in business that's not his.

"Well, then you must've been really close to them to still be wearing it, even if you guys don't talk anymore."

Sakura, who had stopped playing with her necklace as soon as he had pointed it out, started playing with it again. She gave him a small shrug. "I guess so."

The way he was openly staring at her chest with the ruse of looking at her necklace was making her uncomfortable so she forced herself to stop playing with it and tucked it back into the front of her shirt. That must've snapped him out of his slight trance because he started up again right after.

"So I was thinking..."

Sakura inwardly gave a distressed look. Someone please stop him. Please!

He was nice man and all, but she really didn't want to get into a relationship right now.

And it was getting very tiring shooting down his efforts and his offers.

"...if you aren't busy today after we all get out, would you li–."

"Kachou, I need you to look at this. Is there anything that I missed?"

Sakura secretly prayed her thanks to Kami and to who it was that got him off her tail. She leaned back out of her cubicle and saw that it was the ever sweet Konohamaru. She put her hands together and thanked him behind their supervisor's back, to which Konohamaru discreetly accepted with a slight nod of his head.

She let out a huff as she straightened back in her chair and got back to work, but not before fishing her necklace out again to fiddle around with it.

It wasn't the first time someone asked about it.

And it also wasn't the first time she handed out white lies to satiate people's budding curiosity about the piece of jewelry. The only ones who knew the truth about it were her parents and the one who gave it to her. Other than that, everyone else just thought that it was from a once close friend who drifted away.

She easily slipped it and twirled it onto her finger without much thought, since it's really become a habit of hers to play with when she was bored or when her mind wasn't completely there.

She checked on how she was doing with time before slipping her necklace back into her shirt. She might as well finish up this report before going to lunch.

* * *

It's been a week since Karin discovered the existence of a possible illegitimate child. And it's also been a week since she saw that child! Her long hours prevented her from catching another glimpse of the boy. And it seemed like a coincidence that the boy stayed that long at the daycare in the first place.

Karin narrowed her eyes as she refocused the microscope she was looking into onto the slide of the cells of the mouse that she just tested her new poison on. She had tried to use other methods to find out the boy's full identity, but even if she was one of the director's wife and the daughter-in-law of the Chairman of the Board, she was still not privy to that sort of information. A simple fact that annoyed her to no end.

She didn't have the clearance?

Karin clenched her jaw.

She'll show that snotty old lady who didn't have the clearance!

On another note, Karin happily wrote down her observations of the sample, the results beyond her expectation though still not up to her satisfaction. Just a few more tweaks and she'll have a new very dangerous and very potent little drug to play around with.

Like slip into someone's morning coffee.

* * *

Sakura sighed dreamily as she got her noon tea fix.

She practically melted into a pile of goop in the chair she was sitting. She was simply in tea heaven.

She idly wondered how much she had left before the next shipment came.

Sitting in the break room, enjoying her tea and her bentou, she let loose all the tension that attacked her shoulders and her back since the start of the day. She wiggled around a bit more before continuing her lunch.

A bite of perfectly fried and then perfectly reheated ebi tempura. A sip of this lovely, euphoric jasmine green tea. A bit of rice. She really loved herself right now.

As she continued savoring her lunch and her break, her phone beeped with an email. Curious as to who it was, since she didn't get many emails, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it open. When she saw who the email was from, she was slightly shocked and almost dropped her chopsticks which was holding onto her precious fried broccoli, which really won't do.

As her shock drew out, her eyes widened as her mind tried to comprehend the message.

Temari-senpai was getting MARRIED?!

Sakura couldn't help but let out a loud, "Ehhhhhhhhhhhh?! Nani?!" Scaring everyone in and within the vicinity of the break room. Hot coffee was spilled, sandwiches were choked on, papers were dropped, feet tripped, bodies timbered. It was only a hair-width's distance away from looking like a war zone.

"Haruno! I heard you! What's wrong?! What's the matter?" Everyone's supervisor suddenly appeared at the doorway, slightly winded from running down the hall from another department on the same floor.

"Is everyone alright?" Genma frantically looked back and forth between the other emplyees and his love interest. Helping one of them to their feet, he said, "If no one's hurt, let's get this cleaned up."

As soon as the situation was under control, Genma slowly walked over to a still stunned Sakura, careful not to make any sudden movements that would put her further into shock. "Haruno?"

No response.

"Sakura?" he tried and he finally got a reaction.

"Married...getting married...," she mumbled, still in her half catatonic state.

Genma felt his heart drop. Was she getting married? Or was the love of her life getting married and not to her? What else could be the explanation for her reaction other than someone that she didn't want to get married getting married?

He pulled himself together as well as he could before he quietly spoke to her. "It's okay, Sak–."

"She's getting married," Sakura mumbled.

"Eh?" was Genma's intelligent response.

Seemingly recovering from her shocked state, she realized how big of a mess she caused as she saw her supervisor kneeling next to her, comforting body language, and a bunch of her coworkers crowded around the door of the break room, curious as to what had happened and worried for her.

Like a thermometer, the bright red blush rose up her face as she hurriedly stood up and bowed, apologizing, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause a commotion and bother and worry everyone." She straightened up before adding, "I'm so sorry, I was just so surprised."

People breathed a sigh of relief and people returned to their work and people deemed it safe to walk back into the break room.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Genma carefully asked, wanting her to accept his offer so that he could get to know her more.

"Oh kachou, no need. Really, I'm fine. I was just suuuuuper surprised, that's all," Sakura explained as she put her forgotten lunch away, her appetite completely shot since she got the email. She wanted to know about the email more than her temporary heaven on Earth.

"Well, if you need anything, know that I'm her–."

"Sorry kachou, but I gotta go make a phone call before my break is up. Please excuse me." And then with a quick bow, she was out the door, at her desk dropping her unfinished lunch off, and then at the elevators in a second, in a hurry to get to a balcony or the roof to call her senpai. They needed to talk!

Genma deflated. He couldn't even get a word in.

He felt a slightly reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Konohamaru consoling him. He really wanted to go back into his office, huddle up in the corner, and cry himself to sleep. Even the _young'uns_ were pitying him!

* * *

Kakashi blandly flipped through some financial reports as it was nearing the end of the day.

Ugh. These were so boring! And some were clearly done by amateurs who were overly wordy and not concise enough. Did he seriously have to deal with this type of low-level work in a high-level company like Uchiha Corps.?

He nearly gave out a sigh of frustration that would've belied his laid-back personality if he hadn't come across a diamond amidst all of these rhinestones. After looking over a few pages, he actually sat up in his chair to pay more attention to the words and numbers in front of him, not that he actually needed to, since the report was so very well written. But he wanted to appreciate the conciseness and sophistication of this report. Though most of the report was just hard numbers, the data was organized and presented in a very effective manner.

Just one glance was all he needed to understand everything–not that he ever really needed more than one glance to interpret anything, but there were somethings that were so badly done that it took him a bit to figure out what the person was trying to say and to re-evaluate and analyze the data himself. But this, he flipped through the pages and was not disappointed as he reached the end of the report, was a complete and well-done report.

He flipped to the front of the report, wanting to know who was responsible for such an excellent report.

Haruno Sakura.

Hm, for some reason, that name was ringing a bell. Did he know someone in the accounting department, besides Genma, by name?

Wait a minute.

Genma. Accounting department. Genma. Rejection. Accounting department. Haruno Sakura.

Kakashi leaned back in his chair, a hand brought up to his chin in contemplation. So the one Genma put his playboys ways away for was not only a beauty but also intelligent, though Kakashi already knew that since Genma included that in his description of the woman. But there were times when he can't trust his judgment, no offense to Genma or anything, it was just that they had different standards.

And judging by his rare approval of this report, this woman definitely met his standards smarts-wise. Now let's see if she meets his standards beauty-wise.

Kakashi checked the time before he quickly grabbed the report and started heading down to the accounting department. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to meet her now.

This Haruno Sakura.

* * *

**A/N: Kakashi is on the prowl! Rrrrrraow! Let's see how it turns out in the next chapter!**

**I hope you liked it!**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 4/21/2014**


	4. Chapter 4 Turtleneck-mask

**A/N: BOO YAH! And...I've changed the summary so many times now (T^T)!**

* * *

Sakura was waiting for the elevator, ready to pick Rei up and head to the grocery store to shop for dinner. She was checking her email, so when she saw the elevator doors open up in her upper peripheral vision, she automatically moved to get on.

But she couldn't because a pair of feet clad in expensive-looking, sleek, leather loafers were blocking her path. Raising an eyebrow to herself, she followed the shoes connected to long, slacks-clad legs, up a crisp white, ironed dress shirt slightly curtained by a matching suit jacket, to a turtle neck?

Now that's when Sakura got confused. The aforementioned articles of clothing were _very_ typical in her workplace so it didn't really raise any questions. But the sudden navy turtleneck continuing from a red tie tied white collar? That just didn't make any sense.

So by the time Sakura looked up at the human wall, the expression on her face was very curious, especially after seeing that the turtleneck was in fact, not a turtleneck, but a mask? Not to mention the eye patch didn't help matters.

Was there anyone like this in the company? Not that she knew everyone, 'cause she really didn't. She barely knew everyone in her own department!

So even though she felt a bit miffed by this stranger blocking her path to the elevator, which would bring her closer to her adorable Rei, she was quite curious about his fashion choice.

"Ah, you must be Haruno. I was just on my way down to speak to you."

"Yes, it is I. Um, what can I help you with, um..." Sakura didn't know how to address him, since he didn't have a ID tag like she did, but not unlike all the higher up personal.

"Kakashi, you can call me Kakashi."

Slightly uncomfortable about addressing a stranger by his first name, she slightly hesitated at first before opting to add a suffix for her own good, "Um, yes, Ka-Kakashi-san, how can I be of service to you?"

"First of all, let's move out of the way of the elevator, I'm sure other people are wondering what's taking so long for it to come on other floors."

It was then that Sakura realized that the man was standing in the way of the doors, preventing them from closing, so therefore preventing the machine to do its duty.

"Ah yes, that would be sensible."

And so, the two of them took a few steps away from the elevator, unexpectedly completely in sync. She took a step back with her left leg, he took a step forward with his right. She took a step back with her right leg, he took a step forward with his left.

Sakura couldn't help but feel really amused by it.

And Kakashi couldn't help but be blown away by the beauty in front of him.

* * *

The moment the elevator doors opened, the first thing that caught his eye was her _pink_ hair. Genma wasn't kidding when he said that she had pink hair...that _did_ look really soft to touch, even if it was up at the moment. Besides the obvious, Kakashi read her ID tag and knew that he had the right woman in front of him. Lucky him.

So to stop her from getting onto the elevator after he got out, he stood directly in front of her, preventing her from continuing forward. That must've caught her attention because she started raising her head and he felt her eyes slowly traveling up his body. It made him strangely turned on by her innocent checking of him out.

When she finally raised her head and looked at him with those mesmerizing eyes of her, he realized that he wouldn't have been able to move from his spot even if she had wanted him to. Her eyes just pinned him there, effortlessly paralyzing his body like an alluring succubus, ready to claim what was rightfully hers.

His life.

She would've if he hadn't composed himself a few seconds later, eye-smiling as he said, "Ah, you must be Haruno. I was just on my way down to speak to you."

And her response was just too cute, as formal as it was, it was slightly off-put by her curious eyes. "Yes, it is I. Um, what can I help you with, um..."

Kakashi quickly answered in a way that would bring them instantly closer. "Kakashi, you can call me Kakashi."

But he was slightly shot down when she added the polite, distance-creating suffix when she addressed him, "Um, yes, Ka-kakashi-_san_, how can I be of service to you?"

And so he responded as he noticed it, "First of all, let's move out of the way of the elevator, I'm sure other people are wondering what's taking so long for it to come on other floors."

"Ah yes, that would be sensible."

The with way they moved in sync as they backed away from the elevator doors, allowing them to finally close, was it fate?

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Did he really just think that?

He guess he really did.

What was this woman doing to him? He barely just introduced himself to her and she was already casting the same spell that she had on Genma, on him? What a dangerous woman she was.

"May I ask what's so funny?"

Kakashi looked down at her and saw her coyly asking him with her words and her eyes. Oh Kami-sama, this woman.

"Nothing, nothing. I just thought of something."

He watched as she nodded cutely before shifting her eyes around, probably not knowing what to say next. She must've come to something as her eyes lit up before she looked up at him, slightly expecting. "So, not to be rude but, what were you looking for me for?" She checked her phone. "I have to be somewhere..." she trailed off, waiting for him to take the lead.

"Oh yes, yes, forgive me. I was just so distracted by," Kakashi stopped talking and continued in his head, _distracted by you._

"But yes," he held up the report he brought down with him. "I just wanted to compliment you on this very well done report."

He watched as her eyes scanned the cover and saw the recognition before she humbly accepted his praise. She bowed slightly as she said, "Thank you very much. I appreciate your compliment." Then she looked up at him. "Was there anything else?" She looked like she wanted to peek at her phone again.

"Ah, no, that was all. I'm sorry for holding you up when you're in a hurry. I just felt like, if I didn't say it to you now, then I would never be able to." He rubbed the back of his neck, showing his sincerity.

And she bought it.

She forgivingly waved her hands in front of her. "No problem, no problem. I was just surprised that you came all the way down here to say just that. I mean, we're on the third floor and you're office is probably somewhere higher up." She guessed, probably using his lack of a name tag or an ID tag as a sign of his senior position.

And she guessed right. "It wasn't a bother at all, it's just an elevator ride down from the sixth floor, no biggie."

He made her giggle from his choice of words. "If that is so, then thank you for coming down personally. And please forgive me, but I must excuse myself."

"Ah yes, yes, you have somewhere you need to be. Then I really can't hold on to you any longer. Have a nice day. And I hope to see more excellent reports from you."

She bowed and stepped into the elevator that just opened up.

As the doors closed, Kakashi burned her image into his mind. He was sure that he won't be able to stop thinking about her from now on. Exactly like Genma.

What a dangerous woman indeed.

* * *

Sakura whistled to herself as soon as the elevator doors closed and as the elevator started descended one floor to the second floor.

The sixth floor? She whistled again. That was where all the execs were. And then one level higher, the seventh floor, was where the CEO was. Why one person needed a whole floor, Sakura will never know. But she assumed that there were meeting rooms and other rooms up there as well.

But as the elevator stopped and opened on the second floor, Sakura wondered why an exec would come down and greet her personally, and exactly which one he was. To have seen her report, he could be from any of the department besides personnel. Which really didn't narrow it down any further, since that left six other departments.

Sakura continued pondering it until she reached the door of the daycare. Her mind immediately became filled with thoughts of Rei as she opened the door.

"Reeeeei! Mommy's here~!"

Her eyes instantly spotted her baby and examined his surroundings. She saw that he had made a new friend as he was drawing with a little boy that she's never really seen him talk to before. After greeting Moegi-sensei, she switched her shoes for slippers and padded her way into the nursery.

"Hey, Rei, baby, what are you working so hard on this time?" Rei had yet to look up from his drawing.

"My day with Ryuusuke."

"Eh? Ryuusuke?" Must the name of his new friend, Sakura looked to the other boy who was sitting at the tiny table. When the little boy, who was also working on a drawing, shyly looked up, she couldn't help but be startled a bit.

Her heartbeat picked up.

She immediately saw the resemblance. But as soon as her system two thinking kicked in, she also saw the differences. And they weren't just teeny tiny differences, they were some big differences. Like the shape of the eyes, the shape of the mouth, the shape of the face and nose, and the overall feeling to the little boy.

"Mommy?"

And so, she calmed down, slightly berating herself inwardly at her over-reaction.

Sakura smiled at Ryuusuke before turning back to Rei. "So Ryuusuke is your new friend? Wanna introduce Mommy to your new friend?"

"Sure!" Rei exclaimed excitedly as he added some last minuted finishing strokes to his drawing. "Mommy, this is my new friend, Ryuusuke! Ryuusuke, this is my mommy."

Sakura smiled widely at the boy. "Hi there Ryuusuke-kun, I'm Rei's mommy. Did you guys have fun today?"

"Hi Rei's mommy." The little boy shyly smiled as he talked to the lady with pretty hair and pretty eyes. "Yes, we had lots of fun."

"We did! We really did! We went to the park today and played on the swings and the the jungle gym and the slide and the monkey bars and the slide and the swings!" Rei excitedly reported his day to his mommy.

Sakura laughed out loud as she tried to calm her son down. "Okay there, Rei, calm down. And there's no need to shout, Mommy can hear you just fine." She checked her phone.

"Come hun, we gotta go or else we'll miss the train. Say goodbye to Ryuusuke-kun, you'll see him tomorrow. Come on, go get your bag."

As Rei went to go get his little backpack from the cubby, Sakura turned to Ryuusuke who continued to work on his drawing. Yeah, as she calmly looked over the boy, she saw less and less of the resemblance. There was still some, but not as much as she thought there was before. She inwardly shrugged to herself, it's not that strange to have one or two people to look like you, and since Ryuusuke was still little, his features were still not as pronounced. So Sakura won't know if his features will change as he grows up, making his resemblance even less.

Her staring must've unnerved him because she saw him blush slightly. Giggling to herself, she saw that Rei was finally back and ready to go so she got up from where she was kneeling and brushed off some imaginary dirt from her slacks.

"Say goodbye."

"Bye bye, Ryuusuke. See you tomorrow." Rei waved at his new friend who shyly waved back.

"Bye Ryuusuke-kun, it was nice meeting you, I hope you and Rei can become really good friends. Come on, Rei, let's get you signed out." Sakura took her tiny hand in his hers and led him to the front desk. After changing back into her shoes, she signed Rei out at the front desk as he got his own shoes on.

"Say bye bye to Moegi-sensei."

"Bye bye."

"Bye bye to you, too, Rei-chan. See you tomorrow morning and have a nice night, Haruno-san."

"Thank you for everything sensei, I'll see you tomorrow morning when I drop Rei off." Sakura bowed slightly before opening the door to the nursery and stepping out into the hallway with Rei.

"Come on, hun, we need to stop by the store for some groceries first."

"Okay, Mommy."

* * *

**A/N: And Kakashi has started making his move! What resemblance does Ryuusuke have to Rei? Bwahahahahahaha! I'm not really evil, I swear. I just wanted to put that there *troll face*.**

**Thanks for reading and please review!**

**Updated – 5/4/2014**

**P.S. Please review people (T^T)! I'm desperate for reviews! I hunger for reviews! I crave reviews!**

**EDIT – Fixed up most of the grammatical errors. Or least the ones that I was able to catch, lol.**

**Reposted – 5/8/2014**


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